So Darken Your Clothes Or Strike A Violent Pose

You know, I was just listening to My Chemical Romance's Teenagers...literally, it finished up about 50 seconds ago. While listening to it, I noticed something that actually is rather applicable to youth ministry.

Though the song goes about it in a rather vulgar way, it (quite unintentionally, I assure you) makes a point that a lot of youth ministries deal with when it comes to finding quality leaders. Most people have the mentality of the opening lines to the chorus of Teenagers: "Teenagers scare the living.....out of me, they could care less as long as someone'll bleed." So many people have that mentality when it comes to youth groups...they are actually afraid of kids learning God's Word! Okay, they're not actually afraid of that, but a lot of people look at the "hoodlums" that come into a youth group and just shudder. It's almost amusing to think of, but it's actually more sad and, really, more insulting to the students in a youth ministry. Older generations look at these teenagers and may very well repeat those lines from Teenagers, forgetting that generations prior to them said the exact same thing about them when they were teenagers.

I guess the point is that too many people listen to their pastors or youth pastors say that students aren't the future of the church, they are the church right now, but they just nod their heads and write it off. When it comes to actually handing over the reigns to a teenager in some sort of ministry...no,, that's too difficult to do, since they're not mature enough. And, even though they're supposedly not mature enough to serve God, people won't give of their time to help these students mature in any way, shape or form. It strikes a nerve as almost hypocritical, though it may not fit the exact definition of hypocritical.